This bloody winter has lasted forever and it's got me thinking about the 13-year Hyperborean cycle. The long winters never sat well with me. How could the plants and animals adapt to such a huge deviation from Earth’s climate and season? It just extends my suspension of disbelief past the breaking point.

So I've decided to implement sort of time-warp – where Hyperborea exists inside a temporal anomaly which operates at about 29× “normal” time.

Hi; I've been running the "Mutants & Magic" Black City campaign. I've taken the material that John Arendt published online (on his Dreams in the Lich House blog) and adapted it to a pseudo-Hyperborean setting. It's actually a sequel/prologue to my Astonishing ACKS campaign (which was set in Hyperborea proper).

I'm treating the Black City / Khromarium as an "eternal city". Versions of it exist in multiple worlds across many planes of existence. It can be found in different times and inhabited by different beings. The "Black City" is different from the Khromarium of AS&SH, but shares the same "Old Earth" history - at least up to a point.

One of the PCs is actually from Hyperborea proper - he was lost in space & time due to a "natural 1" when dealing with temporal & dimensional distortion technology.

I received my canvas map today and it is a thing of beauty - it shall adorn the wall of my gaming basement!

I'm wondering how to achieve this without damaging the map, however. I'm thinking of hanging it using binder clips along the top, then attaching these to tacks or nails in the wall. (That way I can take it down easily for use in-game.) I might need to weigh down the bottom as well to keep it from curling.

I would think that Khromarium has an extensive "undercity" with living space, storage areas for preserved food, and cisterns of clean water. Perhaps the Sorcerer-Priests of Xathoqqua provide intoxicating lotus extracts to the faithful that would put them into a dreamy haze most days - basically "hibernating" through the winter.

Conversely, Keltic clans would huddle in their hill forts and round houses and carefully shepherd their diminishing supplies. As Mabon describes, teams of rangers would forage for fresh meat. But despite this every winter would still end up like the Irish potato famine, limiting the growth of the settlements.

More barbaric or vicious groups would simply rely on raiding to survive, moving between small settlements or simply reverting to cannibalism if necessary.

Peril on the Purple Planet is an excellent mini-campaign from Goodman Games. I got the boxed set as part of the Kickstarter, plus all the add-on modules (either in print or pdf).

I could run it pretty much as-is, as a distant world accessed via a portal or magical mishap. However, I think that it could also be a good fit for Underborea.

For my Underborea, the entire plateau described in Purple Planet could instead be a vast subterranean cavern, illuminated dimly by the phosphorescent purple fungus that grows upon the cavern walls and ceiling. The plateau itself is about 300 miles by 200 miles, so it fits nicely beneath the Spiral Mountain Array.

The characters in my Astonishing ACKS campaign have gotten into a spot of trouble... After a failed assault upon Nanansa in the pyramid sublevel, they were captured as surgical test subjects by the Snake-Men. Last session they managed to escape from their captors, but are marooned on Enmei without gear or ship - and the surviving Monastery forces are still on their trail.

Does anyone have suggestions on how they can escape from the island? The pirate junk has already been 'junked' (shipwrecked on a reef). I'll probably suggest the small boats from the pirate outpost to the PCs. They didn't see the Teleporter beneath the Temple; I might drop it as an out-of-character hint, but that seems really heavy-handed.

(Hmm; one of the characters is a Sorcerer-Priest of Xathoqqua... Perhaps he'll have a "Divine Vision"...)

One major consideration when using ACKS is the Market Class of each community, which establishes whether expensive equipment is available. With the notable exception of Khromarium, most Hyperborean realms have limited items for purchase.

I’m definitely thinking of reducing starting equipment (namely armour) in my home campaign. PCs will probably need to travel to Khromarium if they want to make big purchases…

So far, the urban populations ended up matching the Hyperborea Gazeteer quite closely. My key learning is that the Sages’ Guild of Khromarium didn’t do a good job enumerating the hamlets and rural population outside of city walls, however...

According to Smith's stories, Uzuldaroum became the capital of Hyperborea after the populace left Khromarium.

Anyone use this city in their campaign? Smith placed it about a day from Khromarium, but I'm thinking of putting the ruins in Brigand's Bay and potentially tying it to the Hyperborean's brief flirtation with Druidism prior to the Green Death.